Distractions and adventures in the knitting world

All good things….. (PDX III)

Mockingjay the special color way in Mad Tosh for the Joji and Veera Knit America 2015

I know yarncations can’t last for ever, although it would be great if it could. The final day was a nice slow day. I had take a photo with Joji the day before and she had pouted out that my lens was a little off. I had been planning on buying a new lens so I was able to grab one in downtown Portland. I know it seems weird but I really had a hard time dropping so much money on an expensive lens for my DSLR. I do spend a tidy sum on yarn, but yarn and knitting is my passion. While I enjoy taking pictures, photography is not my passion. When it was pointed out by my friend how much I actually have been using my DSLR I forked down the cash and bought the lens.

The rest of the day was killing time and exploring Portland before the class on Sweater fit with Joji. We quickly stopped at Powell’s bookstore in downtown Portland. There is a lot to see the bookstore is bigger than a city block and has multiple floors. After seeing the reduction of bookstores as we move to a more digital way of reading I was really happy to be in a book store. They have the biggest amount of knitting books I have seen in one place.

I was able to taste some of Portland’s great cuisine and got to experience the Waffle Window. This is pretty awesome, they have upgraded the crepe experience by using a Belgian waffle. They had an assortment of savory and sweet waffles on their menu.

A bananamisu waffle from the Waffle window

After brunch we jetted over to Happy Knits. Theclass was pretty great. While the topic was closely related to the one covered the day before I learned several new things, mainly I am not apple shaped. I had a nagging feeling I was but after taking the classes over the last 2 days I came the the realization that I am actually a boy/inverted triangle with a generous chest. I think the is going to give me some pause for thought when I pick sweaters. I have been totally obsessed with what makes the “girls” look smaller and how I can hide things… I have completely neglected adding details to my waist to give the appearance of a more balanced shape.

While I could talk about class I though I would talk about the funniest thing that happened on the trip to Portland. I asked Joji to show me how to knit the Argentinian way. In Argentina they knit with long needles and place them under the armpit. It can be used for knitting flat garments. I took several pictures of her knitting this way(my camera was out of focus, so you can ask, but I will not be sharing these). She kindly teased me that if I was going to take pictures of her it was only fair that she could do the same. Her point was well made:)